Blair 3:16

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I made a point of avoiding Parky’s interview with Tony Blair where, despite the maxim set down by Alistair Campbell, he finally came clean and confirmed what we’ve known all along; that Tony does ‘do god’.

Quite a few others have looked at different aspects of the story – I’d recommend you read Curious Hamster and Justin at Chicken Yoghurt for starters, especially Justin who hits the nail of the head with this:

As much as he should be pelted and mocked for yet another sweaty, weaselly attempt at wriggling from, shall we say, temporal accountability, I do have a nagging sympathy for Blair. A person so steeped in blood and horror would frantically search for even the slimmest shot at forgiveness and redemption or else surely go mad, wouldn’t they? I wonder if, deep down, if he’s truly frightened of what might happen to him when he’s finally gathered unto justice. I hope so.

I’ve never really had time for those who claim that god/history/whatever will judge their actions, mainly because that whole strand of argument always struck me as a rather peculiar form of moral cowardice.

When you think about it, it really is a hell of cop-out isn’t it? ‘God will judge me’ says the believer, who also believes that god will also forgive them if they repent before the end. Take the whole Catholic business of purgatory out of the equation, which even the Catholic Church has now dropped, and its a the equivalent of a ‘get out of jail free’ card in the great game of celestial monopoly:

Oh Lord, I’ve done some shitty things in the past, but now I’m sorry – so open the gates and let me in like a good chap, will you.

While I’m an atheist, I can’t help but think that the only right way for all this to end would go something like this:

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7 thoughts on “Blair 3:16”

As you didn’t even bother to watch the interview you seem to be singularly ill positioned to comment on it. But never let actualities get in the way of your prejudices. It’s hard to believe that you’re an atheist when you appear to be so certain about so many things……

1. Just because I didn’t watch Parky doesn’t mean I’m unaware of the content of Blair’s comments or the circumstances in which they were made – it’s not like it’s gone unnoticed in the rest of media, is it?

2. As an atheist I can happily be certain of many things for which there is ample evidence in world around me – evolution, gravity, etc. Anything else I tend to arrive at by a combination of logic and reason, which I find infinitely preferable to religion.

3. I stand by my comments vis Blair, moral cowardice and the whole ‘god will judge me’ business – it is a cop out.

That’s the thing about being an atheist – you have to far up to your responsibilities and the consequences of your actions in this world, not try to defer them to a mythical next one.

I think Hughes Views’ point actrually was that Blair didn’t do the God thing, Parkinson did. ITV trailed a piece out of context to try to give the impression that Blair was justifying his acts in God’s name, and the rat pack picked up on it. I saw it, and he seemed extremely reluctant to mention religion, which he indicated was a private matter. He originally said: whether I am right or wrong is for others to judge, and then Parky promted the God bit.

Personally I have no time for the God squadders either… Bobby Dylan summed it up over 40 years ago in ‘With God on their Side’ which was nicked from Dominic Behan who used the other refuge of the scoundrels in the Patriot Game

The thing with Blair is that his record on certain policy matters shows quite clearly that he does do god but lacks even the courage of his convictions to be honest about it.

The classic example of this is the last minute insertion – after the consultation stages – of a cop out for god botherers on the EC directive outlawing discrimination on grounds of sexuality, which IIRC the NUT are rightly trying to challenge.

I’m sure you are right but that wasn’t the point of your original posting. All I was trying to clarify was that Blair wasn’t attempting to do the ‘god will judge me’ bit. Parkinson drove him into that. If he hadn’t said it the headlines would have been along the lines of ‘Blair denies God’.

I’ve said this before, but its worth repeating. Blair is one of the most honest Labour Leaders we’ve ever had. (OK, I grant you, the whole Iraq/WMD business is pretty dodgy). But u he never promised us socialism, and he sure as hell didn’t give it to us . He promised to manage capitalism with a more human face than the Tories (not difficult) and that is what he has done.

Part of the problem is that all those outside of the Party have this notion that if you don’t like the Prime Minister, all the members of the party can just click their fingers and off he will toddle. It doesn’t work like that. Anyone who has ever tried to deselect their sitting MP will know it is near impossible . It’s even more difficult for a party leader to be removed, particularly one who has delivered three election victories, two by landslides. The Tories dumped Thatcher because many of them thought it was the only way they could retain power, and they were right. Blair’s ploy of saying he wouldn’t stand again has meant Labour MPs know he is going and they don’t have to tear each other to pieces to get rid of him. The other point is constitutional. Should a party be able to remove a Prime Minister? Yes, is the answer, but with some trepedation. We are not a Presidential system in law, but in reality, that is what we have become over the last 40 years. Sorry… how did I get here?